Vendor seeks to block market demolition

Attorney-at-law Bert Samuels, who is representing at least 70 vendors at the Constant Spring Market, has once against filed an injunction to bar the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) from demolishing the facility.

The injunction was filed yesterday at the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.

The market is to be demolished to facilitate the widening of Constant Spring Road as part of the Government’s Major Infrastructure Development Programme.

In court documents obtained by The Gleaner, the applicant claims that he is being evicted from the premises by the KSAMC without due regard to his rights as a licensee, having built on the premises with the permission of the corporation, which owns it.

The applicant, namely, Nichol Sudiene, further stated that the disregard by the KSAMC for his right to have his interest in the market protected is in breach of Chapter 3 Section 13.3(h) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The portion of the charter in question states that a citizen has “the right to equitable and humane treatment by any public authority in the exercise of any function”.

He claims that the acts complained of contravene or are likely to contravene the constitutional rights guaranteed under the charter of the Constitution.

Consequently, he contends that there is no other means of redress than the injunction for the contraventions to the Constitution.

Last June,the Supreme Court granted vendors a 14-day injunction. However, when the matter was heard next on June 25, 2018, the court decided against extending the order.

Vendors were previously given a March 31, 2018 eviction date, but that was later extended to September 30, 2018.